


Far From Home

by HowAboutThatSnapback



Series: The Adventures of Hateya Pines [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, it's time to get this out, this has been in my drafts since the original journal came out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11290464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowAboutThatSnapback/pseuds/HowAboutThatSnapback
Summary: She never expected to fall into the world of Gravity Falls, but when a Faller lands in Gravity Falls, she has to cope with the idea of never seeing her family again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of self-insert, but at the same time not? Eh, mostly not.

Now her life was pretty normal- far from strange save for her overactive imagination- so when something strange happened to her she had no idea how to take it. Sure, if someone says something out of pocket she can laugh it off and move on, but this is beyond strange.

Back up to the night before. She’d just gotten Journal 3 and read it all the way through. She wore her Dipper hat and everything. She even turned out the lights in her room and used her phone’s flashlight to read the rest (the annoying thing kept turning off near the end) to get into the mood. She even put on her only vest- a black one _made_  for winter- despite the heat to really feel like Dipper.  She finished reading and she was careful to make sure she wouldn’t get any tears on the book.

She _wished_  that she could meet Ford and the rest of the Pines. Eventually she went to bed curled up, with the journal under her pillow and her hat on the pillow above her head and vest tossed off to the side on the bed somewhere.

That brings it back to her waking up to something strange.

* * *

 

She reaches for her phone out of habit to check the time and as she looks at it she sees that it’s six-fifty in the morning, but that’s now what throws her off. It’s the fact that there’s grass between her and her phone. She jumps up and she hears the swish of her winter vest she finds her hat on top of the journal in front of her and she picks it up and puts it on her head- her coiled curls were most likely wild and she doesn’t want to run into anyone with her hair looking crazy. She picks up the journal and hugs it to her chest and notices that she’s barefoot.

While she doesn’t mind walking in her backyard barefoot or on the concrete barefoot (when it’s not hot), but in woods she doesn’t know and in the dirt? Not so much of a fan, but it’s not like she has much of a choice.

She steps carefully, using the balls of her feet more than her heel to walk. She’s going off of pure instinct at the moment and trying to find something familiar- she hasn’t seen woods like this at all.

_How in the world did I get here?_  She wonders, while ducking underneath a fallen tree. _Is this some sort of prank?_

Her tired mind doesn’t connect the dots that her fanfiction reader/writer brain would at being wide awake and so she’s just confused and... quite terrified to be in an unfamiliar place.

_Calm down, you’re good. You’re good, nothin's gonna happen to ya_ , she assures herself and jumps at the sound of a cracking branch.

She doesn’t give much thought to look for what it could’ve been and she walks a bit quicker with less care for her feet. She’d’ve dropped the journal in her hands if it weren’t for the fact that it was being a comfort item at the moment.

_Bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, pack fo raccoons, skunks, bears, wolves._  She didn’t so much as think the words as she imagined them coming after her. Anything within the journal doesn’t come to mind because she is thinking more logically.

_Please don’t let me die out here,_  she thinks as she breaks into a run when there’s a crack right behind her.

Now she may have been trying her best to cut back on cursing but when faced with the possibility of death, her thoughts take an immediate left turn and she was thinking every single curse word she knew.

“Wait! Stop!” A familiar voice calls to her and she skids to a stop mere feet from a huge hole in the ground labeled the Bottomless Pit and her vest is grabbed so that she’s pulled away from it.

She jerks away and looks up at the person. Some part of her mind connects that he looks very similar to Stanford Pines from her favorite television show, but she’s too frazzled to make that connection.

“It’s alright,” he assures while holding out his hands as if he’s talking to a frightened animal. “I’m only trying to help.”

_Hehe, he sounds like JK Simmons,_  some part of her brain says but she’s still watching him warily, clutching the book to her chest and trembling a little from the adrenaline and fear.

His eyes connect to the journal, but instead of addressing it he asks, “What’s your name?”

She hesitates a long moment before answering, “Hat.”

“Hat? Is that a nickname?”

She nods. “Short for Hateya.”

“Your accent... you’re from the south?”

She nods again. “Texas.”

“Yes. Not that heavy, but still recognizable,” he nods. “I’m from Jersey. The name’s Stanford Pines.”

Her eyes immediately flicker to his hands and she counts them faster than she does most things- a habit she picked up from watching the show and looking at fanart to make sure the twins hadn’t switched clothes (aside from looking at his chin).

“The Author of the Journals,” she nods.

“I see you have my journal with you... would you mind coming with me? We can get you something to eat and some shoes.”

She nods and then walks forward slowly, the adrenaline slow to leave her system.

He puts a hand on her shoulder and guides her through the forest. At one point her feet begin to hurt, but when questioned she insists she can keep going. Instead of arguing he merely keeps a better eye on her.

She stops a moment.

She hasn’t eaten in hours nor had a decent drink so her head swims a bit. He has her climb onto his back and he offers to hold the journal, but she clings it close to her body with one arm still- what other thing from home could she even use as a comfort item?

_Home._

_Will I ever get to go home again? See my family and friends?_  Homesickness hits her hard and she grits her teeth and tries not to let the well of emotion that gathered in her chest leak out from her eyes and even digs her thumbnail into her forefinger to try and stop herself. _Stop thinking. Stop thinking about it._

But it’s impossible. The chances of her ever going home again are slim to none.

Her cheek rests on his shoulder and she tries to keep her breathing even and unlabored as the tears begin to spill. She tries not to let it get on his sweater, but she fails.

_Stop crying. A lot of fans would kill to be where you are,_  she tells herself.

In fanfiction normally the OC died in dimension that was their home before they entered the next or they were sucked in by a portal or they jumped in. Their lives are normally terrible and they need a release. At least that’s most cases.

But that’s fanfiction. This is reality.

It hit her hard that she’d never see the people she cares about ever again- her family, her friends. She’d never get to play with the little kids and rile them up before giving them back t their parents or eat food made by some of the family’s best cooks or get to cuddle with her favorite stuffed animals or make jokes with her friends or get to hear the same family stories and still laugh hysterically because of the way they was told...

She’d never do any of that ever again and the weight in her chest becomes to great for her to contain and she chokes out a sob.

He stops and looks back at her. “Hat?”

She turns her head so that he won’t be able to see her cry and says with a trembling voice, “I’m fine...”

Obviously he doesn’t believe her and he brings her around so she’s on her feet in front of him so he can hug her to his chest.

“I know the feeling,” he says. “Let it out.”

Her arms wrap around his middle and she lowers her head in a way that her hat won’t dig into his chest and it falls off to the ground behind her. Her face is buried in his chest and she sobs, mourning over her loss- her family, her friends, her entire dimension. As much as she wanted to meet everyone in Gravity Falls... she didn’t want to pay this price for it.

Stanford rubs her back and doesn’t say much which she was kind of grateful for. Physical comfort goes a long way.

She doesn’t know how long she cries, but she knows the sun’s peaking through the trees at this point.

He picks up her hat and puts it on her head. “Are you feeling better?”

“I dunno,” she admits, shrugging her shoulders.

For her to admit even that is a testament to how terrible she feels.

“That’s okay... feels terrible, but... it’ll get easier with time,” he assures.

She looks up at him with red eyes and a tear-stained face. “How much time?”

He has a handkerchief held out to her by this point. “One can’t say. It varies from person to person.”

Considering the fact that she still feels like crying even after crying for so long, it’s probably going to take a long time.

She feels weak and tired and hollow and she just wants to go home and curl up in her bed and sleep for a month.

“Come on, we’re almost to the Shack,” he assures while having her climb onto his back once again.

She rests her cheek against his shoulder again, but this time it’s to sleep- something she needs dearly.

 


	2. Chapter 2

It has to be some time in the afternoon that she wakes up. She sits up and looks around the unfamiliar room, confused and dazed until reality hits her like a semi-truck.

She whimpers and her breathing becomes ragged in an attempt not to cry again.

 _Damn, I miss them,_  she thinks while pressing her hand to her chest to relieve the pressure that feels like it’s building in there. By the time she’s done she’s sure her eyes are puffy and she refuses to show her face like this.

By the time she’s done crying again, she wants to go back to sleep again, but her body won’t allow her to despite how hard she wishes.

There’s a quiet knock on the door and she grows quiet in hopes whoever is knocking won’t come in if she’s quiet.

Apparently none of her wishes are coming true anymore and the door opens. Stanford blinks in that owlish way she’d normally be squealing over upon seeing her awake.

“Hello,” he says awkwardly and then closes the door after himself and has a glass of water in his hand. “How’re you feeling?”

She laughs bitterly and covers her eyes from his view. “Like crap.”

“Here, drink some water,” he insists.

She hesitates a few moments, but takes it and takes a couple of sips of water and _thinks_  she’s going to put it down, but then she ends up gulping down two-thirds of the water before she stops and takes deep breaths.

He rubs her back and looks down at her sympathetically. “Do you want to eat anything?”

The mere thought of eating makes her stomach churn. “No... I don’t.”

Stanford sighs quietly. “Do you think you can stomach something? Even crackers?”

“... no,” Hat whispers.

He sighs quietly and then rubs her back. “Alright... you’ll try to eat something a bit later, won’t you?”

“Maybe,” she grumbles.

It’s one thing to lose a family member, but it’s another to have them all ripped from her at the same time.

“Do you wanna talk about something? Anything?”

“Not... not really,” she admits. She feels a childish need to hug someone or something. She hates to admit it, but she does. “I just... I wanna cuddle.”

Stanford nods. “Alright, I can do that.”

She stares at him for a long moment to be sure he’s alright with cuddling with a stranger. As he opens his arms she moves forward and wraps her arms around his middle and rests her head on his chest. Her muscles relax a bit when she feels his arms go around her and she feels like a little kid again only this time she’s accepting comfort from someone who she’s never met personally before.

Stanford keeps holding her and rubs her back, doing his best to comfort her silently.

“I have a lot of people back home I miss,” Hat says after a long silence with her eyes downcast.

She adjusts herself so that she can unlock her phone and then fresh tears start to form just seeing her screensaver. There’s a baby with a smile on her face and a bow in her hair.

“I never got the chance to meet my niece... she’s a year old,” she says and then unlocks her phone and goes to her photos.

Most of them are of her family and friends and of random things she wanted to remember (she had a special folder for fanart in general). She scrolls through them with a sad face and she locks her phone and hugs it to her chest.

_Take me home... please, bring me back home, I don’t... I can’t- STOP CRYING._

“It’s alright to cry,” he says. “Cry as much as you need to.”

“I hate crying,” she insists thickly with an angry tone to her voice.

“You may hate it, but it’s relieving... let it all out and you’ll feel a bit better,” he promises.

Her breathing hitches and she hides her face back in his chest- something that’s quickly becoming a familiar action. She cries long and hard with his arms around her- another thing becoming familiar.

_Looks like I’ll have to get used to it..._


	3. Chapter 3

After cleaning up and finally making her puffy eyes less noticeable, she stares in the mirror and finds her hair is wild, something that needs to be fixed. She takes a moment to get it soaked and tugs at her curls and then dries them. Much better.

With a sigh she looks in the mirror and tells herself, “You’re gonna be happy. Don’t bum ‘em out. They’re thirteen- still kids- don’t gotta see you like this... okay, good.”

“Are you ready?” Stanford asks as he knocks on the door.

“Sure,” Hat calls back and takes a deep breath and opens the door.

 _Happy, happy, happy,_  she tells herself and follows him downstairs. She has a general idea of the layout, but she’s never seen confirmed blueprints so she doesn’t know.

As they enter the kitchen she sees Waddles waddling over to her. Hat makes a face and backs away- she knows how... nasty bigs can be (a reason to avoid eating pig’s feet entirely) and not only that, but despite how cute he was in the show he’s not quite as cute in real life.

“What sounds appetizing at the moment?” Stanford asks.

Normally she’d say bacon, but not only is the pig detouring her from this, but bacon in general doesn’t even coax her stomach to even want to be hungry like it normally would.

“Do you have any Granny Smith apples?”

That’s about the only flavorful thing she’s about able to stomach at all when her stomach doesn’t want to cooperate.

“I believe so,” he says and pulls one out of the fridge and after checking it, gives it to her.

She holds it in her hands and tries to warm it up. “Do you have a knife and plastic bag?”

He eye her a little. “Yes.”

He takes out the requested items and Hat grabs a paper towel and puts it on the chopping board that’s out. She cuts it into eight slices and then puts half of the apple into the plastic bag while eating the other four slices.

“Could you put that in the fridge for me, please?”

He nods and places it on the top shelf just as she goes to the sink and cleans the knife and puts it away in the drawer she saw him take it out of.

“You don’t have to do that,” he assures.

She shrugs and then finishes the last slice before washing her hands.

_Maybe if I’m lucky I can get a shower? What would I even wear? Well I could hand wash everything, but it’d take forever to dry..._

She’s overwhelmed- just last night she was home finishing the journal and now...

 _Stop. Stop. Stop feeling,_  she thinks while taking deep breath to try and calm down.

“Hat?”

She looks up at Stanford, blinking. “Yes?”

He stands there and stares at her for a long heartbeat before he asks, “Is there anything else you want?”

 _My family._  “A shower.”

“Ah, yes,” he says and then grabs a bag. “I took the liberty of buying clothes for you while you were sleeping... my niece helped me pick out everything.”

She blushes a little in surprise. “Thanks.”

 

After her shower, she ends up rewearing her bra and wearing slightly too big underwear and a new pair of black basketball shorts and an oversized t-shirt with a sun on it that’s smiling. Basically it’s an outfit she’d normally wear around the house anyway. She has her phone stuffed inside one of her pockets and she ends up wearing her vest over that and her hat. The journal is under her arm as soon as she finds it again.

She wants to keep the things from her dimension as close to her as possible- they’re her only connection to home.

Today she figures she’ll inevitably be meeting the rest of the Pines and she doesn’t really want to, but it’ll have to happen.

The first one other than Stanford that she meets actually happens to be Soos.

He dwarfs her and she stares up at him for a long moment. His eyes are a grayish color- something she both did and didn’t expect.

The large man smiles down at her. “Hey, I’m Soos.”

“Hi, I’m Hat,” she replies with a polite smile.

“Cool name,” he says.

“Thanks,” she replies and says, “Yours is pretty cool, too.”

Even though she knows a lot about each character, her interactions are about as awkward as if she’s meeting a stranger she knows nothing about.

“Do you wanna tour around the Shack?”

For a long moment she’s quiet before she slowly nods. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Cool. Let’s go.”

Stanford ends up trailing behind the two of them and Soos merrily points out small things that he thinks she’ll like. She smiles politely and tries to get into it and ignore the aching in her chest that won’t seem to go away. Everything goes pretty smoothly and then Hat notices a child- teenager technically- hiding behind a corner.

“C’mon out, sweetie,” Hat calls.

She’s always been good with kids so she knows how to get along with them faster than she did with adults.

“Hi, I’m Mabel,” she says as she’s set down.

“I’m Hat, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too!”

“My, aren’t you just a peach?” Hat says, resisting the urge to lightly pinch her chubby little cheek. “You’ve got more charm than a charm bracelet.”

“You sound like Mr. McGucket,” Mabel giggles.

Hat shrugs. “It’s a southern thing.”

“Mabel, have you seen my ha- _HEY!_ ” Dipper sees the hat on Hat’s belt and glares up at her. “What’re you doing with my hat?!”

Hat sighs quietly. “It’s not yours...”

“But-”

Hat takes it off and readjusts the snaps and then puts it on his head. “Here, I don’t need it anyway. Get bad hat hair.”

She walks past them with her heart sinking as she does so and she stuffs her hands into her vest pockets. She doesn’t like making waves, so if giving up her hat meant keeping peace, she’d do it.

Before she knows it, the back of her vest is grabbed by a tiny hand and her feet stutter to a stop. She looks over her shoulder and finds Dipper holding up the hat.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s definitely yours. It’s got a flat rim.”

Hat smiles and takes it back, putting it on her head. “Thanks.” She ruffles his hair and then fixes it out of habit. “Sorry, force of habit.”

“What’s your name?” Dipper asks curiously.

“Hat,” she answers.

“Nickname?”

“Short for Hateya,” she nods.

“The name’s Dipper. Nice to meet you,” he says while holding out his hand.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she says with a smile as she takes his hand. After a moment she clears her throat awkwardly and asks, “So... on with the tour?”

“Of course!” Soos and Mabel say.

Hat smiles and walks around with the small group and as soon as it comes to the gift shop she stutters to a stop. As curious as she is, she doesn’t want to get in Stanley’s way in the middle of a tour.

“Well, we’ll show you later,” Stanford assures while putting a hand on her shoulder. “How about we go watch a movie?”

“Yeah! We can watch anything you want,” Mabel says to Hat.

Hat shakes her head. “I dunno what I wanna watch... how about you go ahead and pick one out?”

“Sure thing!” Mabel says and darts into the living room.

Hat shoves the dark thoughts away and goes to sit on the couch, curling up in a small corner of it.

Stanford settles on the couch near her, tugging the blanket off the back and offering it to her silently.

She mutters her gratitude and pulls the blanket around herself and watches the children arguing over movies.

“Which one do you wanna watch?” They finally ask her.

Hat looks between the two movies and reads their summaries before holding out the one that Dipper picked. “We can watch the other one another time or right after this.”

As she watches it she grows tired and she does her best to stay awake, but she slips off.

 

“Hey... hey, kid, ya hungry?”

She cracks open an eye and looks at... square glasses, gruffer voice... Stanley. She shakes her head and turns over so that she’s facing the back of the couch.

A quiet sigh.

She squirms irritably as she’s forced to turn back over and opens her eyes to glare at the face in front of her.

“Sorry kid, but it’s not an option. Ya gotta eat,” he says.

“Not hungry,” she grumbles. “Lemme sleep.”

She yelps in surprise as she’s thrown over his shoulder and grips the material under her hands that- thankfully- happens to be his shirt.

“Put me down,” she demands with her nose wrinkled and a frown on her face.

“Nope.”

“Put me down!”

“Yeesh, kid. You ain’t as sweet as Ford painted you to be.”

She turns her head to glare at the back of his head and finds herself wanting to knee his chest, but if he’s anything like her father that’d result in her getting dropped on the nearest soft object (and she fears he may just drop her on the carpet).

Needless to say she’s not a peach when she’s first woken up.

“Release me peasant!” Hat shouts and then she pauses a moment.

A snort and then she snickers at the ridiculousness of the statement she just made.

“The heck are you on kid?” Stanley asks and she can almost swear she hears a smirk.

“Lemme alone; I just woke up,” Hat grumbles through laughter.

“Uh-huh,” he grumbles and then adjusts her so that he sets her on her feet in front of him. “You’re a strange kid.”

 _Get it from my daddy,_  she nearly says, but she sobers up and says, “Yeah, I get that a lot...”

Stanley seems to realize he made an accidental blunder and then grumbles awkwardly, “We’re having meatloaf. Want some?”

She glances over at the meatloaf over on the stove and grimaces. “Uh...” She looks back at his face for a moment- he doesn’t seem like he’ll take no for an answer. With a sigh she says, “Sure... a little.”

He nods and goes over to the stove and when she doesn’t follow, he crooks his finger at her to come over as he starts cutting it. “How big?”

Hat looks down and then she uses her hands to show how big. “’Bout like that.”

He makes a face. “That can hardly even be called a _snack_  let alone a meal, kid.”

“Not hungry,” she grumbles.

He sighs and seems to begrudgingly accept that she’s not going to eat much and cuts the amount she asks for.

 _Not worrying, just concerned,_  she tells herself when she sees the look on his face as he makes her plate of meager food portions.

Everyone gathers for dinner and Hat stands awkwardly beside Stanley as he finishes making her plate.

“Hi, Hat. How was your nap?” Mabel asks.

“Nice,” Hat says and nearly wants to add a snippy comment, but she refrains.

_You don’t know ‘em ell enough yet._

“Here ya go,” Stanley says and hands her the plate.

“Come sit here,” Stanford says and pulls out a chair for her.

“Uh, thanks,” Hat grumbles and sits in the chair.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Dipper questions from her right.

“Dipper,” Stanley scolds.

“It’s alright. I- uh- I’m not really hungry, but it’s better to eat something than nothing,” Hat explains.

“Alright, let’s eat,” Stanley grunts as he sits down.

Hat’s head bows and she whispers a quick “ThankyouLordforthefood.Amen” before even bothering to pick up her fork.

After she finishes her food she sits there awkwardly for a moment, sipping on her water as the others eat and silently she begs to be released with instructions as to what to do.

“Go on and head t’ bed,” Stanley grunts while picking up his can of Pitt Cola.

“Thank you,” she murmurs and is quick to flee back to the familiar bedroom.

 _That’s enough human interaction for one day,_  Hat thinks as she lets her shoulders droop with a sigh. She leans against the door and stares across the room and feels her gut twist painfully.

She slides down to the floor and begins crying again with the onslaught of thoughts of her family.


	4. Chapter 4

Hat’s stayed with the Pines family about two weeks. She has interacted with everyone a bit, but she knows they can all tell she’s still struggling and broken. She tries her best to hide it- especially from the kids- but it doesn’t work. Soos- as it turns out- happens to be the one she finds easiest to interact with next being the kids and Wendy. Stanley’s a bit hard to interact with because he’s painfully similar to her father with his constantly cracking jokes, but she still enjoys spending time with him.

During the day she’s fine, she bonds with them... it’s the nights and early mornings that are hardest. She’s cried more in these two weeks than she thinks she’s cried in her entire life.

It’s been Stanford that she’s clung to in that time. Many times she’s fallen asleep crying and woken up crying in his arms and each time he comforted her. She’s grown very attached to him- more so than the others as she would have expected- and very reliant despite herself. 

This morning was not very different from any of the others. She wakes up with her eyes moist and fingers desperately clinging to the fabric of his sweater. Her breathing isn’t even, but it’s not as ragged as it could be. She looks up at Stanford’s face and finds that he’s asleep.

_Good, he needs it after what I’ve been putting him through,_  she thinks as she carefully gets out of bed so that he won’t wake up. Once she’s sure he won’t wake up she sneaks out and goes to the bathroom.

She feels incredibly guilty for putting this all on him- her emotional baggage. He hasn’t been getting as much sleep as he should comforting her through the night and into the morning and she can’t stand that.

_He shouldn’t have to look after you,_  some part of her says. _You should learn to deal with this on your own. You’re pathetic._

She runs the cool water and rubs her eyes with her wet fingertips and hopes it will ease the redness and stop the swelling.

Hat takes a breath and leans against the sink, her stomach rolling. _Stop thinking. Damn it, stop thinking..._

She bites her bottom lip and unlocks her phone, ignoring the picture of her niece and going straight to her music (she’s eternally grateful for her charger being inside of one of her vest pockets).

_What’s it called?_

She needs a song that can calm her down and make everything better. She doesn’t know why she hasn’t thought of this before, but it’s too late for all fo that.

_Here Comes A Thought._

She hits play immediately and holds the phone close to her ear- she doesn’t want anyone else to hear.

“Hat, are you in there?” Stanford calls.

_Damn it,_  she think and hits pause. “Yeah...”

“Come on out,” he calls. “I know you’re hiding.”

After a long moment she walks out and looks up at him, right arm crossing her front to hold her left bicep. “I’m sorry...”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he says and then leads her back toward the room they’ve practically been sharing. Once she’s sitting on the bed he pulls up a chair to sit in front of her. “I take it you’re not hungry yet.”

She shakes her head and rubs her thumb against the cracked screen protector.

“Were you looking at pictures again?”

“No,” she replies quietly.

That’s a first which explains why he blinks in surprise. “Oh? Then why do you have your phone out?”

She takes a moment to gather her thoughts and say, “Listening to a song...”

“Would you mind if I hear it?”

She hesitates a moment and then restarts it and turns up the volume so that he can hear with no problem.

As the song goes on, Stanford seems to hum the tune and nods as it ends. “Yes, this is a good song to listen to when... stressed.”

“I listened to this for something like a week straight after the first time I heard it,” she says quietly.

Stanford rubs his chin with thought. “Would you mind if I try something?”

“Uh... no, g-go ahead,” she shrugs.

Stanford hits play and then takes her hands in his.

It never fails to surprise her how tiny her hands are.

“ _Take a moment to think of just flexibility, love and trust,_ ” he sings, harmonizing with the woman’s voice and gestures for Hat to repeat.

“ _Take a moment to think of just flexibility, love and trust,_ ” she sings with her throat tight, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“ _Here comes a thought that might alarm you,_ ” Stanford sings while looking into her eyes.

As he sings along she breathes deeply and holds his hands like her life depends on it.

She lets her thoughts be consumed by her family and friends; of a world- no- _dimension_  that she’ll never get back. She allows it to consume her instead of fighting it back like she’s been doing. Everything she knows will be slightly altered- nothing quite the same. She’ll be stuck here...

_But..._

She’ll make new friends and have new experiences. She isn’t alone- even now. She just needs to keep her faith and realize that the Pines family and their friends are there for her now.

"Ford?”

“Yes?”

“Did you really mean it when you wrote that if I read the journal I was an honorary Pines?”

… that depends,” he says slowly. “Did you complete the initiation?”

She blinks in surprise. “The initiation?”

He reaches over to the nightstand and grabs the journal. “There was an initiation on that page. You aren’t an honorary Pines… yet.”

She scoots closer as he turns to the past page. What’s this about?

He gently grabs her hand and places it on the page over the note to the reader. He pulls out a flashlight and shines the blacklight the page. After several seconds he turns it off and she can read the initiation message.

She takes it off and sees her hand print shadowed in the blacklight ink. She feels her heart squeeze and she clutches her heart and covers her mouth as tears begin to swim in her vision.

Stanford hugs her and rubs her arm. “You’re officially an honorary Pines… welcome to the family.”

She can’t help but smile a little at that and she glances up at him. “Can I call you Grunkle Ford? I-I mean if you don’t want me to th-”

“Calm down. Yes, you can call me that,” Stanford assures with a soft chuckle.

She surges forward and hugs him around his middle and whispers, “Thank you, Grunkle Ford.”

“Anytime,” he assures while hugging her with both arms.

She pulls away and brings out a little of her old self and asks, “Think Stan’ll let me call him Grunkle, too?”

“I dunno, you should ask him,” Stanford replies. “Now, are you ready to go and eat?”

She nods and smiles a bit. “Yeah.”


End file.
